AUTUMNAL ROSES. 91 



tlie middle of November, it excited only laughter 

 and disdain among the Komans. So abundant 

 were they then in Rome, that, to quote Martial, 

 ' In all the streets we inhale the perfumes of 

 spring, and see sparkling the fresh garlands of 

 flowers ; send us wheat, Egyptians, and we will 

 send you roses.' * 



'Let not thy winters, Nile, then vio with ours ; 

 Go plough, and send us corn — we'll send thee flowers.' 



It seems, also, that the Romans forced flowers 

 by means of hot water, in their forcing houses, so 

 as to produce roses and lilies in December, for 

 Seneca t declaims against these inventions. Mar- 

 tial also says, book 12, epigram 127, ' That roses, 

 formerly only seen in spring, had in his time 

 become common during the winter.' If we may 

 thus judge from the ancients, our autumnal and 

 our winter roses, and even our forcing by hot 

 water, wliich has been thought to be so recent an 

 invention, are all of high antiquity; but, if we 

 may credit Pliny and others, the Romans could 

 not approach us in variety. The rose of Psestum, 

 the Rosa bifera alluded to by Virgil,J appears 

 to have been the only autumnal rose known. 

 This, according to Pliny, bloomed in the spring, 



* Martial, book vi. epigram 80. 



t 'Non vivunt contra naturam, qui hieme concupiscunt ro- 

 8am? Fomentoque aquarxim calentium, et calorum apta imita- 

 lione, hruma lilium florem vernum expritnunt ? ' — Epist. cxxii. 8, 



J Georgics, Look iv. verse 18. 



